Alabama

YOUR VIEW: King's words still calming: 'God is on our side'

As we recall the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s inspiring words and life, I am reminded of what King told me when I had the privilege of a private interview with him shortly after "Bloody Sunday" in Selma in March 1965.

I had moved my family from Birmingham to Selma in 1964 to work for the Edmundite Southern Mission and its outreach services for African-American families. Previously, I had worked as assistant editor of The Catholic Week, then based in Birmingham. After the attack on the marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge -- which gave the ghastly event its appropriate name -- I received a phone call from the editor of the Catholic News Service in Washington, D.C., asking if I could write some stories from Selma. The editor told me it was impossible to send one of his own reporters because the airlines were jammed with passengers flying to Selma to support the demonstrators there who were demanding -- in a nonviolent way -- the right to vote. I welcomed the opportunity.

One of the three stories I wrote included King's response when I asked him how he stayed so calm amid the danger and chaos then present in Selma. He said, calmly, "I believe in the rightness of our cause and that God is on our side."

My hope is these words of King will inspire each citizen to work courageously for justice and peace everywhere. As King reminded me that day in Selma, God is on our side.